Christo leading the Championship after podium brace
31st Jul 2005
Riki Christodoulou scored two third positions today at a dry and warm Rowrah and now leads the country’s premier Karting series, the Renault B4 Group Formula A British Championship, with one round remaining.
The 2003 Junior national Champ was third in a wet qualification but then won both of his heats comfortably despite still healing from a broken right shoulder.
Tyre problems prevented the sixteen year old from Sutton Coldfield being able to establish the same kind of form in the two finals and he could only lead each outing briefly.
From the last six finals Christo has taken five podium results and his recent form has elevated him to the position of Championship leader with a marginal points difference between the first four drivers.
“All weekend the shoulder felt fine,” he commented. “It was really aching in the morning when I got up, but after some physio it was OK. The heats were not a problem and I felt really quick although I was only racing for ten laps. The finals were twenty laps long and for the last five or six I had a lot of pain and would take my hand off the wheel when I could to try and rest my arm. I had to ramp some of the curbs and the shock was going straight to my shoulder.”
“I was OK with the third positions and was far ahead of fourth in the first final to be able to relax,” he continued. “The new tyres we used today frustrated me. We must have had a dodgy batch because the Kart felt very weird and handled different; not good.
I was leading the second final for about a lap and a half but got nudged out and lost a few positions. I had some rubbish on my tyres which caused another guy to slip past so I put my mad-cap on and went for it! By the time I was back to third the others were too far away. I think today two thirds was the best I could do with the tyres but I am disappointed because I wanted to win and felt like I could have; it wasn’t a bad first race back from injury I suppose.”
“I am leading the Championship but there are five drivers in contention and it is going to be an awesome last race,” he concluded. “Luckily for me it will be at Shenington; my home circuit!”
Full results will be posted on Riki’s website this week. The sixth and final round takes place at Shenington on September 10th and 11th.
About Riki Christo
Riki Christodoulou has been racing as long as he can remember. Through karts, Formula Renault and now in the British Formula 3 International series. Riki continues to compete in top flight motorsport as one of the UK’s most promising young racing car drivers.
